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Guide

Surrendering a driving licence, and getting about after

Voluntary surrender is formally an application to cancel, and the police handle it, not the ward office. Where to go, what to bring, why the driving history certificate matters, what Kawasaki offers for getting about, and why putting the car in a distant child's name is harder than it looks.

The decision belongs to the driver. A family cannot surrender a licence on someone else's behalf, and a diagnosis does not cancel one automatically. What follows is what the process involves, and what to put in place instead.

What it is called, and where it is done

Formally this is an application to cancel a driving licence, usually called jishu hennou (自主返納) — voluntary surrender.

  • Where: a driving licence centre, or any police station in Kanagawa except Yokohama Water Police. Not the ward office — this is one of the few things on this site that the city does not handle.
  • Appointment: not needed
  • Bring: the driving licence itself. If the holder has both a card licence and a My Number licence, bring both. Without them the application cannot be made.

People currently subject to an administrative penalty, or required to attend one of the statutory driver courses, cannot apply.

Ask for the driving history certificate

Issued on request to anyone who surrenders a licence, the driving history certificate (運転経歴証明書) records the five years before surrender and is accepted as identification at banks and similar places.

Handing in a licence removes one of the few widely accepted forms of photo ID in Japan, so this matters more than it sounds. It is ready about a month later, at the station where the application was made. Kanagawa Police note that the stations in Kawasaki, Yokosuka, Kamakura, Odawara, Ebina and Sagamihara-kita are likely to be busy.

Discounts the certificate brings

Kanagawa runs a support scheme for older drivers who surrender. Showing the driving history certificate at a participating business brings discounts on purchases, free delivery to the home, or reduced accommodation rates. The list of participating businesses is on the prefectural police site, in Japanese.

Getting about in Kawasaki afterwards

Kawasaki runs a travel support scheme for older residents (the page is in Japanese). Who qualifies and what it costs are set by the city, so it is worth checking while the decision is still being made. It makes "what happens if I stop" concrete.

Shops and taxi firms taking part in the prefectural scheme also give discounts on production of the driving history certificate.

There is still a car

Sell it, pass it on, or leave it standing — each needs paperwork. And putting it in the name of a child who lives far away is harder than it looks.

People forget that they surrendered, and drive

With dementia, the act of surrendering may not stay in memory. This is not lying, and it is not defiance. But driving without a licence is an offence, and an accident cannot be undone.

The surest answer is for the car not to be there — sold, taken away, or passed to a relative. However tiresome the registration and insurance are, nothing beats the car being gone.

If it cannot go yet, stop it moving.

  • Keep the keys — easiest, but people often remember where the spare is
  • Disconnect the battery's negative terminal — the engine will not start, and it is easy to reverse
  • A wheel lock or steering lock — physically certain. Sold at hardware shops and online

A wheel lock has to be put on and taken off, so it only works if someone lives nearby. From a distance, disconnecting the terminal — or letting the car go — is more realistic.

In case they go out anyway

Three things to have in place — all of them before anyone goes missing.

  • Check whether the insurance covers it — there is a rentable item called a wandering sensor, but it means a device that detects someone trying to leave and raises an alert, not one that locates them by GPS. An amendment to cover GPS location is under way, but no date is fixed. Ask your care manager or the city's insurance desk what is available now. What can be rented
  • The city's portable emergency terminal — it has GPS location search, and people who need watching over when out because of dementia are eligible. Emergency reporting system (in Japanese)
  • Register with the missing-persons SOS network — the city's scheme, which alerts local agencies when someone goes missing

GPS finds someone; it does not stop them leaving. It does a different job from keeping the car immobile, so arrange both.

Changing the registered address means needing a parking space there

A parking space certificate requires the space to be within 2km in a straight line of the vehicle's registered base — for an individual, their address or place of residence.

So registering the car to a child's address means a parking space near that child's home. Leaving the car at the parents' house will not satisfy the condition.

Light vehicles (kei) use a notification rather than a certificate, and in some areas even that is not required, but the distance rule works the same way.

To keep the car where it is, change only the user

The registered owner and the registered user can be different people. Leaving the registered base at the parents' address and changing only the user avoids the parking problem. For a car driven on visits home, this is usually the practical route.

The insurance discount does not transfer

This is the part most often missed. A no-claims grade can be passed only to a relative living in the same household (a spouse may live apart). A child living separately cannot inherit it, and starts fresh at grade 6.

If the parent keeps another car, a second-car discount may allow a start at grade 7. The grade makes a large difference to the premium, so ask the insurer before deciding what to do with the car.

How grades transfer is set by each insurer's policy terms. The above is the general rule.

Three different places to ask

  • Parking certificate — the police station covering the parking space
  • Registration and user changes — the transport branch office (Light Motor Vehicle Inspection Organization for kei cars)
  • Insurance — the insurer or agent holding the policy

This site covers long-term care. It is not a guide to vehicle registration or insurance. The distance condition follows National Police Agency guidance. Confirm with the three places above before acting.

It is the driver's decision

Giving up driving changes how far someone's life reaches — shopping, appointments, seeing people. When the licence goes before the alternative is in place, people stop going out.

Where a family has concerns, putting the alternative in place first and then having the conversation goes further than taking the keys. If the decision is difficult, raise it with the family doctor. A community support centre will also discuss getting about.

The procedure and the discounts follow Kanagawa Prefectural Police. Counters, opening hours and required documents change, so check before travelling. Staff answer in Japanese.

Find your support centre Official page (Japanese)

Source: Kanagawa Prefectural Police · Last verified 2026-09-12. Rules change. Check the source page before you act on this. This is a plain-English summary of public information, not an official translation.

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